Here's what actually happened: Nickie went through the Case Report Writing Workshop, submitted her case report, got accepted by ABPTS with zero required edits, passed her exam... and then a peer-reviewed journal, Oncology Rehab and Practice, accepted her case report for publication!
I sat down with her to talk through exactly what changed. A few things stood out that I think you'll find useful, no matter where you are in your own case report journey:
She almost started in the wrong place. Like most people, her instinct was to start with the introduction. She quickly realized that's actually one of the last sections you should write — you can't summarize a report you haven't built yet. (This is the exact drafting order I walked through in the video last week.)
The application portal surprised her. It's not a Word doc you write and submit — it's roughly 20 separate text boxes. Nobody warns candidates about this going in, and it genuinely changes how you should be outlining and drafting from day one.
She left nothing blank, and matched their formatting exactly. Small thing, huge payoff: accepted in 3 days, with zero required edits.
She didn't do it alone. A coworker. Friends outside of oncology. A colleague who'd published before and caught things she'd never have caught herself. Every case report needs more than one set of eyes.
I want to be really clear about something — I'm not sharing Nickie's story to say everyone who goes through the workshop gets published. That's not the standard, and this is genuinely a first for us.
What I want you to take away is what's possible when you have a process and real support behind you, instead of trying to figure it all out alone at 11pm after a full, exhausting shift.
If your own case report is feeling like an impossible mountain right now — it's not. It just needs a process, and it needs you not to do it alone.
Talk soon,
-Elise
P.S. If you want that process and that support, the Case Report Writing Workshop is linked here.